This is true only of lower division classes at UW. Once you get to mid or upper-level classes, your class sizes are much smaller, the professors are more accessible.
Even the entry level classes have pretty good TA support, and the TAs often know more than the professors. That being said, I found it useful not to go to the huge lectures (even the one taught by the nobel prize winning physicist, who wasn't that great of a lecturer), spend my time in the study center, and rely a lot on the TAs (who were mostly awesome).
Yeah, my senior year during a research project on public policy (polsci major) it was a class of 20 students and a professor who normally taught classes of 200-300.
It was really actually quite cool getting so much of his headspace for my project.
My TAs were probably 60% great, 20% alright, 20% pretty bad during my time there.
Even the entry level classes have pretty good TA support, and the TAs often know more than the professors. That being said, I found it useful not to go to the huge lectures (even the one taught by the nobel prize winning physicist, who wasn't that great of a lecturer), spend my time in the study center, and rely a lot on the TAs (who were mostly awesome).